


It's amazing what baking can do

by unrulyyellow



Category: The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Slow Burn, baking competition au, i imagine them all to be around 28-30 in this, like gbbo but in indiana, xe/xem kaylee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-24 02:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30065316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrulyyellow/pseuds/unrulyyellow
Summary: When her gran suggested applying to the annual bake-off competition in Indiana, she had done it for her because she knew that they’d never pick her out of all of the applicants.Three months later, as Emma found herself standing in front of the tent she’d seen many times before on TV, she found herself regretting her decision to humor her gran and apply for the show.(or baking competition but make it gay.)
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan, Kaylee/Kevin/Shelby (The Prom Musical) (mentioned)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a multi-chapter fic that came to mind when me and my friend started watching the celebrity bake-off. I hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> (title from Waitress because I had to)

When her gran suggested applying to the annual bake-off competition in Indiana, she had done it for her because she knew that they’d never pick her out of all of the applicants.

Three months later, as Emma found herself standing in front of the tent she’d seen many times before on TV, she found herself regretting her decision to humor her gran and apply for the show.

Emma could feel the nerves slowly setting in as she approached the tent to sign in.

She could hear the voices of the other bakers introducing themselves and which only made her feel more anxious.

Emma was about to swallow her nerves and enter the baking area of the tent when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

“Emma? Emma Nolan?”

_Amanda Kaylee Klein._

The last person Emma had wanted to bump into when she moved back to Indiana. Emma couldn’t help the gasp she let out when she saw her old high school tormentor.

Physically Emma had hardly changed since high school but she could not say the same thing for Kaylee. 

During their times at James Madison High, Kaylee Klein had been the HBIC. She was captain of the cheer team and she, along with her boyfriend Nick, had made Emma’s high school life a living hell.

They were friends once, it seemed like a lifetime ago to Emma but they started to grow apart as they got older. 

Kaylee began to be into boys and cheer and Emma didn’t really like boys and spent most of her free time playing her grandpa’s guitar.

Even though Emma and Kaylee had grown apart Kaylee still wasn’t malicious towards Emma, they just ran in different social circles. 

Kaylee was civil towards Emma which swiftly changed once Emma’s parents kicked her out and outed her as a lesbian to the whole town. After that Emma had just been the town outcast who counted the days until she left to go to college.

Emma was convinced that she’d never go back to Edgewater but her gran was getting older and couldn’t run the farm alone anymore so both she and her cousin moved back to help her. Not like Betsy’d ever admit she needed the help.

The Kaylee Klein stood before her was nothing like the one she once knew and although Emma had sworn that she’d never speak to her again she found herself intrigued by the new version of her.

“Kaylee Klein?” Emma paused, still a little bit speechless at how different Kaylee looked. 

“God Emma, it’s been what? Ten years?” Kaylee let her eyes take in Emma and she smiled slightly. “You haven’t changed a bit Nolan.”

Emma laughed at the use of her last name knowing that when they were 5 they refused to call each other by their first names for a reason she’d long forgotten now.

“I couldn’t say the same thing about you Klein, the girl I knew in high school wouldn’t be caught dead in plaid.”

“I’m definitely not the girl you once knew anymore,” Kaylee looked like she was going to say more but she was interrupted by the sound of more people entering the kitchen and remembered where they were. “We should probably go in. I’ll see you around Emma.”

Kaylee gave Emma a brief awkward hug before following the people inside.

Emma was stunned as she entered the kitchen; both from how extravagant the kitchen was in real life compared to how it looked on TV and from seeing Kaylee after all these years. 

It did make her wonder if maybe Nick had changed too but Emma wasn’t sure that Nick Boomer was capable of change.

As it turns out Emma was also wrong about Nick. 

On the other side of the room, Kaylee was pulling back from a hug with him and pointing towards Emma with a smile. Nick waved and motioned for Emma to come over.

_I’ve imagined running into the old people from high school multiple times and it never went anything like this._

Emma was making her way towards the pair when she was knocked over by a person running by to hug someone.

Emma thought her friend had the most angelic laugh and she found herself leaning forwards to see the person who let it out.

“Shelbs, calm down. We saw each other last week,” The mystery woman said trying to peel her friend off of her. 

Once she’d gotten her friend off she looked apologetically at Emma still on the floor.

“I’m sorry about Shelby, She can get a bit excitable at times. Reminds me of a dog,” The woman chuckled holding out a hand for Emma, ignoring the indignant ‘ _hey!’_ that Shelby had let out.

Emma accepted her hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet almost toppling into the woman.

“Hi, I’m Alyssa.” 

Emma was too busy getting lost in her deep brown eyes that she didn’t take in the woman speaking or that she was still holding onto her hand. 

Alyssa felt her cheeks flushing a slight red underneath Emma’s gaze which seemingly broke Emma out of her trance. 

Emma dropped Alyssa’s hand, her face tinting red with embarrassment.

“Emma,” Confusion passed over Alyssa’s face at the first words the blonde spoke. Emma shook her head realising that she probably wasn’t making any sense. “I’m Emma.”

“Nice to meet you, Emma.” 

Emma was going to say something else but was interrupted by the hosts and the judges entering the room. Alyssa gave Emma a small wave before moving to stand next to Shelby.

Emma was soon ushered by a producer towards her designated baking bench and given an apron to put on. 

She was too busy acquainting herself with the equipment and the ingredients she’d been given making sure that everything was there that she didn’t notice where the producers had put anyone else.

Emma was inspecting tubs of white powder when Greg came up behind her and said “ _hey Em”_ causing her to almost spill the container of what she assumed was flour all over the counter.

“Jesus Greg.” Emma gasped, dramatically clutching her chest.

“Emma I’ve been stood here for a minute. Anyway, do you have 2 wooden spoons in your drawer by any chance because I don’t want to have to ask for one?” Greg pleaded.

Emma flung her spare wooden spoon at her cousin.

“Thanks, Em!” He said before rushing back to his bench next to Emma’s.

“I hope you don’t throw things behind you like that whilst you’re baking. I don’t think I’d be quick enough to catch it.” At the sound of Alyssa’s warm voice, Emma spun around to see she had been set up on the bench behind her.

“I can’t make any promises Greene,” Emma said, looking down at the name tag on Alyssa’s apron. “This is a competition after all.”

“Oh, it’s like that?” Alyssa replied with a teasing smile.

“It’s like that,” Emma said with a wink.

Alyssa giggled and just smiled at Emma.

***

“Welcome to the 2021 Great Indiana Bake Off, as you all know week one is cake week. For your first signature challenge our judges Dee Dee and Barry would like you to make a swiss roll.” Trent, one of the hosts, announced.

“You have 2 and a half hours to make your swiss roll and remember, it’s crucial to create a tight roll because that’s what gives it the signature swirl.” Angie, the other host, said.

“On your marks, get set, bake!” Both hosts said simultaneously.

Emma had gotten used to having cameras around after filming her introductory videos before the competition started but having a camera pointed towards her as she tried to start baking did nothing to help soothe her nerves.

She tried to shake off her nerves and focused on measuring her sugar and egg whites into the mixing bowl.

“Hello Emma,” Trent said as he led Dee Dee and Barry towards her workspace. Emma just smiled in response too focused on the bowl in front of her.

“What are you doing?” Angie asked, trying to encourage her to talk.

“I’m currently trying to whip my egg whites and sugar,” Emma replied without looking up from the bowl in front of her. “They need to form stiff peaks before they’re ready.”

“What flavour Swiss roll are you making?” Barry asked.

Emma looked up noticing the judges for the first time, feeling more nervous under Dee Dee’s steely gaze.

“I’m making cardamom, pistachio, and coffee.” 

“Aren’t you worried the flavours will be contrasting?” Dee Dee replied.

“No, I’ve practiced it enough,” Emma said feeling slightly defensive. “It was a hit with my Gran and my cousin.”

“They’ll be the judge of that,” Trent winked, leading the judges away towards Alyssa.

“Alyssa Greene. How are you getting on?” Angie asked.

“I’m good, I’m just about to get the tray out of the oven,” Alyssa said, crouching to open the oven.

Alyssa dropped the tray onto the counter and lightly pressed on the top.

“See how it kind of springs back when you press it? That’s how you know your sponge is ready.”

“And what flavour is your roll?” Trent asked. 

“Raspberry and lemon.”

“Are you putting actual raspberries inside the roll?” Barry asked motioning to the open box of raspberries in front of him. “Aren’t you worried that your proportion of filling to cake will be wrong?”

“Not if I quarter them,” Alyssa said, lifting the cake out.

“We’ll leave you to it then,” Trent said popping a raspberry into his mouth.

The cameraman stayed with Alyssa encouraging her to keep talking.

“The cake rolls the best when it’s hot so it’s best to preroll before letting it cool down and adding the filling,” Alyssa said feeling unsure what the man wanted her to say. 

This seemed to satisfy him though as he sauntered off to find someone else to distract.

Alyssa breathed out a sigh of relief and turned back to her baking. She noticed Emma watching her intently as she began to roll her sponge and let out an exasperated huff when she’d rolled it perfectly.

“Psyching yourself out about rolling it will only make it worse you know,” Alyssa said starting to fan her sponge.

“It’s the first challenge. I just don’t want to lose before the competition’s even started.” 

Alyssa softened at that.

“Emma, if you don’t even start you’re going to lose either way. Even if it cracks it doesn’t mean you’re out,” Alyssa moved to stand next to Emma. “Besides if you do that badly we’ll just have to sabotage someone else.”

Alyssa could see the tension in Emma start to dissolve as she let out a chuckle.

“Here goes nothing I guess.”

Emma lets out a huff before beginning to roll her sponge. 

Alyssa chastised herself for thinking her new friend(?) was cute with a concentrated look on her face and her tongue sticking out. She didn’t even know if she was queer, although, from their few interactions and the way she presented herself, Alyssa was almost certain she was.

Emma let out a whoop when she completed her roll perfectly. “That’s how it’s done.”

Alyssa laughed at the complete change in Emma’s demeanor.

“30 minutes left bakers,” Angie announced as Trent stood next to her making some hand gestures that Alyssa presumed was meant to somehow be related to the time.

“I should go and finish my cake. Good luck Emma.”

“Good luck.”

***

“Time is up bakers. Step away from the bakes.” Trent said, pointing at Kevin who was not-so-subtly trying to add finishing touches.

All 12 bakers in the room let out what felt like a collective sigh of relief at their first challenge being over.

Emma was first up to be judged and she was surprisingly a lot less nervous now she could see her final product.

Barry’s comments were all positive but Emma found herself holding her breath waiting for Dee Dee’s response knowing she was the one who was hardest to please.

“I was worried about the flavours being too different but they work.” Dee Dee nodded before striding off to taste Alyssa’s Swiss roll.

Emma found herself biting her lip to hold in a laugh at the look of pure horror on Alyssa’s face as she saw Dee Dee come towards her.

The fear on Alyssa’s face faded after Dee Dee told her she had a perfect spiral but the girl still looked a little intimidated by Dee Dee’s presence.

Once the hosts and the judges had gone to Carrie’s bench, Emma flashed Alyssa a thumbs up which Alyssa reciprocated with a relieved smile.

Both girls watched as the rest of the bakers had their cakes judged trying to size up who would be their biggest competition.

Once all of the cakes had been judged all the bakers were ushered outside for fresh air and their solo interviews.

Shelby walked next to Emma as they left the tent apologising for knocking her over earlier and introducing her to her boyfriend Kevin.

“How long have you two been together?” Emma asked.

Kevin immediately looked to Shelby to answer. “Thirteen years.” 

“Oh wow.”

“They were childhood sweethearts,” Emma heard Alyssa say from behind her. “Watching them fall in love was somehow the most beautiful and yet the most painful experience of my life.”

Shelby rolled her eyes at Alyssa.

“Kevin and I were oblivious to our feelings,” Shelby explained seeing the confusion on Emma’s face. “Although, I don’t know how Alyssa dares say anything with the number of times girls have been flirting with her and she assumed they were just being nice.”

_Girls._

Alyssa mumbled a quiet shut-up before leaving to go and give her interview.

Kaylee came up and introduced herself to Shelby and Kevin as Emma excused herself to go and sit on one of the nearby benches, slightly stunned.

_Girls._

_***_

After everyone completed their interview the bakers were led inside for their final challenge of the day.

Although the technical challenge was the hardest due to the lack of detail in the recipe Emma felt less anxious about it because all the bakers were in the dark about what the challenge was until they started it.

“As it’s cake week and Barry here wrote three of the bestselling books on cake baking it is his recipe you will be tackling,” Angie said.

“For your first-ever technical challenge, Barry wants you to make a cherry cake. As you’ve seen in other seasons prior to this one, the judges will taste this blind so we must now ask them to leave,” Trent said, waiting for the judges to leave before continuing. “Bakers you have 2 hours to make your cherry cake using the recipe and the ingredients provided. Good luck, your time starts… Now!”

Emma scanned through the recipe reading the first step.

  1. _Prepare your mixture._



This was going to be a long two hours.

Emma thought she was doing quite well so far as she mixed the cherries into the mixture. Mainly due to overhearing Alyssa’s tips to the camera, luckily she was close enough otherwise she wouldn’t have known to coat her cherries in flour to stop them from falling to the bottom.

Although Emma was thankful for the things she picked up from Alyssa, she knew the girl was going to be her biggest competition and she knew she’d have to practice harder to get to Alyssa’s level.

After pouring the mixture into her ring-shaped baking tin Emma realised that the instructions simply said _bake_ with no indication of how long for. Emma put it in for 20 minutes hoping for the best.

“What did you set your timer to?” Alyssa said, sitting on one of the tables waiting for her baking to be done.

“20 minutes, you?”

“Same,” Alyssa felt slightly relieved that someone had had similar timings to her. “These technical challenges are gonna end me.”

Emma laughed. “I mean that’s less competition for me so I’m not complaining.”

Alyssa playfully swatted Emma’s arm.

“I’m kidding, though I do think you’re going to be the one to beat this year,” Emma said.

“You really think so?”

Emma just nodded.

Their conversation was interrupted by Greg dramatically throwing himself on the floor by Emma’s feet and groaning.

“Remind me why we did this again?” He said.

“This is my cousin Greg. Greg, this is Alyssa.”

Greg responded by flailing his arm from the ground which Alyssa presumed was some form of a wave.

More people came to join them as their cakes were in the oven which gave Emma a chance to officially meet everyone. They all seemed to be nice and she even exchanged numbers with a few of them.

Eventually, alarms started to go off and people started to remember why they were here.

Nick being one of the last people to put his cake in the oven hung around Emma for a bit longer whilst he waited for his cake to cook. 

Emma knew Nick had matured but a part of her still believed he was the same guy who would scrawl slurs all across her locker in high school.

Emma had started toasting her almonds on the hob whilst listening to Nick talk about his and his girlfriend’s new dog.

“We got him not long after my girlfriend had top surgery,” Nick said pulling his phone out. “Look at how cute he is, he’s annoying and chewed holes in all my shoes though.”

_Top surgery?_

“Is something burning?” Alyssa said from behind her holding her nose.

“Shit, my almonds,” Emma said rushing to rescue them off the hob. 

Emma began analysing her almonds to see if any of them could be salvaged. Nick wordlessly walked away feeling slightly guilty.

Luckily not all of Emma’s almonds had burnt to a crisp. 

The cake felt cool enough to ice so she began to put her icing on allowing it to run down the sides of the cake only slightly before sprinkling her few almonds on top.

“And time is up bakers. It is time to say cherry-o to this challenge,” Trent said laughing at his pun. 

Angie just shook her head before finishing. “Place the cake behind your picture at the front and we’ll let the judges back in.”

The bakers all sat in a row watching the judges taste their cakes and make comments. When the judges had finished and walked away to share their opinions, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who’d won the challenge.

“High five,” Emma said holding her hand out towards Alyssa. Alyssa looked at her strangely but Emma just moved her hand closer. “C’mon your cake was clearly the best.”

Alyssa could feel a blush creeping onto her cheeks but she playfully rolled her eyes and high-fived Emma. Her heart jumped in her chest when Emma grinned at her in return.

To nobody’s surprise when the judges came back Alyssa had indeed won that challenge. Emma had placed middle but she still felt good about the final challenge tomorrow.

Alyssa waved bye to Emma as Emma was packing her things away.

“Don’t let your success go to your head Greene, tomorrow’s gonna be my day.”

Alyssa just shook her head. “Goodbye, Emma.”

Emma smiled to herself. She was proud of her baking today even if she had a few disasters. 

“Ready to go Em?” Greg asked. Emma just nodded trying not to think about the brown-haired girl who’d been on her mind since they met.

***

Emma had woken up bright and early the next day. She had been practically vibrating all morning counting down the minutes until she and Greg left to go to the bake-off tent.

As opposed to the day before Emma wasn’t nervous at all and practically jumped out of her truck after she pulled into a parking space leaving Greg scrambling behind her trying to keep up.

The energy was high in the tent when Emma stepped inside. It seemed that Emma wasn’t the only one who was excited about the second day. 

Emma had been practicing her showstopper all week and she was certain she’d gotten everything down perfectly.

Once Emma had put on the apron that some producer had thrust at her she went to join the bakers that were sitting around waiting.

As she approached Hayden, Kevin’s twin, waved at her and patted the chair next to her. Emma found that Hayden was easy to talk to and they had quite a lot in common. 

Hayden was in the middle of a story about Kevin breaking his leg when they were younger which he still blamed on her to this day when the producers called everyone to their baking stations ready for filming to start.

Alyssa was already there checking she had everything she needed to bake her cake. Emma gave her a wave before walking past to check her area.

Trent started banging two pans together to get everyone’s attention and Angie had to stop him when he kept going.

“Good afternoon bakers, welcome to your first showstopper challenge and your final challenge of week one,” Angie started. “Today Barry and Dee Dee would like you to bake a cake of your choice, sounds too easy right? They would like you to make 36 of the cakes in miniature form.” 

“You have four hours bakers. Starting… Now!” Trent announced.

The judges started questioning people on the other side of the room rather than starting with Emma which she was relieved about. 

She was making coffee and walnut Battenburg cakes which were her Grandpa’s recipe. So she wanted it to go well. 

It didn’t take long until Emma was putting her sponges into the oven to bake. After setting her timer she saw that Alyssa was also waiting for her cakes to be done in the oven.

“What's cookin’ good lookin’,” Emma said shooting Alyssa a wink.

Alyssa looked a little bit bewildered and Emma didn’t exactly know why she said it but Alyssa burst out laughing before she could take it back. 

Alyssa had the most contagious laugh and Emma soon started laughing. The other bakers gave them confused looks as they both tried to compose themselves.

“Technically nothing’s cooking, they're being baked,” Alyssa said as she tried to catch her breath.

Time seemed to fly by as Emma was already removing her cakes from the oven but it felt like they had only started ten minutes ago. 

Emma now had to cut her cakes perfectly to get them uniform.

She had gotten a ruler out to measure out strips when she was distracted by noises from behind her. 

“What’s this?” Emma asked Alyssa motioning to the contraption on her worktop which Nick and Kevin were currently playing with.

“It’s a guillotine I made. I’m using it to cut my cakes into identical lengths,” Alyssa said watching Nick chop things. “It also works to entertain grown men who are mentally five years old.”

Emma laughed sharing a knowing look with Alyssa before going back to cutting her sponge. 

She had managed to spend the majority of her baking time in peace but eventually, she was interrupted by Trent pulling a chair up to her counter and sitting down.

“Word’s gone around your offcuts are the best in the room,” Trent said eating some of the cake that Emma didn’t need. “They were right, what cake is this?”

“That one’s the coffee sponge.”

“It’s good,” Trent replied, feeding Angie some of the cake.

The hosts and judges stayed for a couple of minutes before leaving to allow Emma to finish off her cakes.

“Time is up bakers.” Trent and Angie both announced.

The bakers went one at a time to the front of the tent to the judges. Emma was first up.

“The concept is something we’ve never seen before but the coffee just needs to be a little bit stronger,” Dee Dee told her.

Emma thanked them and took her cakes back to her workstation mouthing good luck to Alyssa as she carried her miniature lemon drizzle cakes to the judges.

No one had done badly on their showstopper and that worried Emma slightly which must’ve shown on her face because she felt a hand on top of hers. 

Alyssa looked at her, eyes shining with concern but Emma just smiled and interlaced their fingers.

_I'm okay._

Eventually, the judges came back in and Emma found herself holding her breath. Alyssa squeezed Emma’s hand but she didn’t remove it which Emma was grateful for.

“I have the awful job of announcing who’s leaving us today,” Trent said solemnly. “The first baker who will be leaving the competition is… Natalie.”

“That means I get to announce who this week's star baker is,” Angie said. “Our star baker this week is ruthless. She’ll bake a cake then chop its head right off.”

Everyone started laughing and turned to look at Alyssa. 

Emma bumped her shoulder into Alyssa’s and Alyssa gave her a bashful smile, eyes sparkling with happy tears.

“Our star baker this week is Alyssa!”

Emma reluctantly let go of Alyssa’s hand to join the other bakers in clapping for her and then got out of her chair to hug Natalie. She didn’t get much chance to talk to her but she seemed nice so Emma was sad to see her go.

Emma was relieved she survived the first week but she knew that just meant she had to do it all over again next week.

“I’ll see you next week Nolan,” Alyssa said as she was leaving the tent.

Emma felt her heart jump in her chest. Next weekend couldn’t come quick enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Week two. Biscuit week with a little bit of angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the second chapter. I'm planning on getting the third chapter out in a couple of days! :)

Week two was biscuit week and Emma had practically been non-stop baking since she and Greg found out what the signature and showstopper challenges were, which had proven to be quite difficult when they had to share a tiny kitchen.

Betsy had found herself in the middle of the cousin’s light bickering numerous times in the past week, so she designed a schedule for each person to bake separately. Although this was mainly so she could watch her TV shows in peace.

It was currently Greg’s turn to bake so Emma found herself lying on the bed of her truck watching the sun slowly start to set.

She was exhausted. Between the excessive baking and the extra work that needed to be done on the farm, she had hardly gotten any chance to rest. Her eyes had drifted shut and she was seconds away from sleep when her phone rang pulling her back to reality.

Without opening her eyes and checking who it was Emma accepted the call lifting the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey Emma,” Alyssa’s soft voice rang out.

Emma had gotten closer to Alyssa over the past week. When she wasn’t doing the farm work or baking she was usually on the phone to Alyssa.

Alyssa had this way of making Emma feel completely at ease with the simplest of words. She felt like she could listen to Alyssa talk forever and that frightened her. 

She and Alyssa fell into a light conversation about their days. Emma felt a warm feeling in her chest whenever Alyssa would ask questions about whatever story she was telling because she enjoyed listening to what Emma had to say.

Alyssa’s laugh was one of Emma’s favourite sounds. The brunette always felt sheltered when they were with other people but in moments like these, she seemed so carefree.

The phone call had to end sooner than Emma wanted as Greg called her inside to eat dinner. Emma grumbled something about not being finished with what she had to say but Alyssa just told her that they could finish their conversation tomorrow when they met up for lunch so she should go.

Emma reluctantly said goodbye and went inside to spend the rest of the night with her family.

The following day Emma didn’t know what to expect from lunch with Alyssa, Shelby and Kaylee. She had only spoken to Alyssa since the weekend and, although she wasn’t religious, she found herself praying it wouldn’t be awkward with the others.

Alyssa and Shelby were already at the coffee shop when Emma arrived. She was on time but she'd noticed that Alyssa was always early wherever she went.

Kaylee had sent a message saying that xe would be late and Emma couldn’t help from feeling a little relieved. Although Kaylee had been nothing but nice to Emma the past weekend Emma still felt a little apprehensive around xem after how xe treated her during high school.

Coffee with Alyssa and Shelby was nice. Shelby and Alyssa had been friends for as long as the pair could remember and Emma found Alyssa’s embarrassment to Shelby’s stories from high school endearing.

Kaylee did show up around an hour later but it wasn’t awkward like Emma had been worried about. 

Kaylee was intelligent and xe and Shelby hit it off. 

Emma and Alyssa had just shook their heads and engaged in their own conversation when Kaylee started grilling Shelby with questions about her job as a book editor.

When Shelby had to leave to go to a meeting they all decided to part ways. Emma had hugged each person before she left, feeling like her hug with Alyssa lingered for a few seconds too long to be just friendly but just pushed the thought out of her head, before getting into her truck and driving back to the farm.

***

A few days after meeting the bakers for coffee Emma and Greg had their at-home interviews. 

Emma hated this part. She didn’t have much to say about herself so spent most of her interview talking about her grandparent’s old bakery. They taught both her and Greg to bake after Emma moved in so Emma felt like she owed it to them.

The cameraman asked Emma about living with her gran and she didn't know what to say. How was she supposed to talk about being kicked out of her house by her parents on national TV?

Emma just shook her head and spoke about something else. She wasn’t ready to talk about it. Not yet at least.

The cameraman just moved onto Greg and Emma was pulled softly into a hug by her gran. Her gran understood how hard it was for Emma, even still.

***

Emma had already found herself easily fitting the bake-off filming into her weekend routine. 

She was currently sitting on the bench at the bottom of the farm that she and her grandpa built drinking her morning coffee. Emma found something so serene about early mornings before the people of Edgewater woke up. This had been something she had done since she was 16; she was once joined by her grandfather but still came here after he passed. It was one of the ways she stayed close to him.

Finishing her coffee Emma shouted for Greg and grabbed the keys for her truck.

The drive to Indianapolis wasn’t long but Emma liked to be early, it helped to make her feel more prepared for the day ahead. 

After pulling into the parking lot, she and Greg raced to the tent with Greg only narrowly beating her.

Emma greeted all of the crew members as she put her apron on and was whisked away by Hayden and Carrie filling her in on their lives from the past week. She saw Alyssa enter the room with Shelby and shot her a smile and a wave before tuning back into Carrie’s story about her husband.

Emma’s story about the mayhem with the chickens on the farm was cut short as they were all called to places by the camera crew. 

Alyssa pulled Emma into a warm embrace as she walked past. Alyssa nuzzled her head into Emma’s neck and, although Emma could tell Alyssa was affectionate with her friends from how she acted with Shelby, she couldn’t help but imagine what it must be like waking up next to Alyssa with them both tangled up in each other. 

They both pulled away with wide smiles when Trent cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. 

As she walked to her workspace she saw Greg shoot her a knowing look and Shelby didn’t even try to hide her grin, Emma looked away sheepishly. She hoped that either she or Alyssa would gather the courage to bring up this seemingly unspoken thing between the two of them.

“Welcome to week two bakers. For the second signature challenge of the season, the judges would like you to make thirty-six savoury biscuits.” Trent said.

“They all should be uniform in size and can be any flavour you would like.” Angie finished.

“You have two hours starting… NOW!” Trent announced.

Emma had spent more time practicing her showstopper than her signature but the couple of times she had made her rosemary seeded crackers they had come out perfectly so she hoped that luck would carry on to the weekend.

The judges came over to Emma but didn’t stay for very long because they could tell Emma was focused on what she was doing. They questioned why she was already cutting her dough when it had only been 20 minutes and seemed satisfied with Emma’s comment about too much kneading would cause the biscuit to be tough.

Time flew by as Emma baked that she barely registered that there was only one minute left as she was getting her biscuits onto a plate to present.

The judges started with Greg's black olive and caramelised onion crackers and finished with Emma. Emma had been carefully listening to all of the criticism that the judges had been giving but other than Tom and Carrie no one had done too bad. 

As the bakers walked outside for their post-signature interview and fresh air, Emma had been replaying the judges comments to her in her head. She was stunned that Dee Dee had called her biscuits perfect and given her a handshake. 

A few of the bakers had patted her on the back and congratulated her as they walked past and Emma had to breathe deeply to hold in the tears of joy threatening to spill. There were still two other challenges left in this week of the competition so she could still end up being eliminated tomorrow.

Emma was talking with Kevin and Nick after her interview but she was too antsy to start the technical challenge to focus on what they were saying. 

Emma was pulled away from them when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face Alyssa beaming at her.

“You did good,” Alyssa said. “This is your weekend Emma, I can feel it.”

“Thank you.” Emma knew Alyssa meant it and it gave her a glimmer of hope. She never really let herself think about the possibility of getting star baker but she started to think that maybe she had a shot this week.

Emma and Alyssa carried on talking until they were called back inside to do the technical challenge.

“Today’s technical challenge is to create eighteen florentines,” Angie announced.

“You have an hour and fifteen minutes. Good luck bakers, your time begins now,” Trent said.

As soon as Trent finished talking Emma turned to Greg who was already looking at her. They both smiled because they knew exactly how to make florentines. They were Betsy’s favourites and every year on her birthday they would always wake up early and bake some fresh florentines from scratch to surprise her with.

The lack of detail in the method didn’t throw Emma off as much as last week but they were still different from the recipe that Emma used so she didn’t want to get ahead of herself. 

After completing all the steps required to make the mixture, she realised she had less mixture than she was expecting and looking around at the other bakers she definitely had less than they did.

She tried to quiet the sudden panic rising in her by reasoning that because they spread out in the oven anyway she could just scoop smaller amounts of the mixture onto her baking tray. She took a few deep breaths and carried on, trying to push her worries to the back of her mind.

  1. _Bake until golden brown_



Even though Emma had made florentines many times before she didn’t know the perfect oven timings. After sliding her tray into the oven she just sat on the floor watching the florentines carefully.

“This is the worst part,” Alyssa said resting her head in her hands. “They look ready but I don’t want to take them out too early.”

“How long have they been in?” Emma replied.

“Seven minutes.”

Emma sighed thoughtfully and paused before responding. “I’d take them out if you think they look ready. Better underdone than burnt.”

Alyssa nodded in agreement and bent down to remove the tray out of the oven. 

Emma returned her focus to the oven in front of her deciding to take her advice and take them out.

  1. _Add chocolate to the base of the florentine_



Emma knew that this was the part that most people would get wrong. Florentines have a very distinct zig-zag pattern on their base and the easiest way to create that is with a fork.

Trent noticed Emma’s technique and hurried over to her.

“You look like you’re doing it right so let's hide you from the rest of the contestants,” Trent said pretending to shield Emma from everyone else’s view. 

Emma just laughed and placed her final florentine onto the drying rack allowing the chocolate to harden before placing all eighteen onto a plate.

“Your time is up bakers,” Angie said standing on Nick’s worktop. “Place your florentines behind your picture on the table at the front and we’ll summon the judges.”

Emma took a seat on one of the middle stools and Alyssa made a beeline to sit next to her. They shared a smile and Alyssa linked her arm with Emma’s.

Trent came back into the room followed by Barry and Dee Dee. Alyssa shifted closer to Emma and Emma interlaced their fingers.

The judges tasted each baker’s florentines whilst all the bakers held their breath and hoped for the best.

Once the judges got to the end of the table they left the tent to discuss who’s florentines were the best. The room was filled with so much anxious tension. She felt Kevin link with her other arm and she smiled thankfully.

The judges came back to reveal the results and Carrie placed last which Emma was sad about. She liked Carrie but they never really had much of a chance to talk. The judges carried on revealing who placed where and it was no surprise to anyone that Greg placed second and Emma came first.

The bakers all clapped for her but Alyssa’s hand didn’t leave hers until they had to leave. Alyssa reluctantly let go of Emma’s hand to pack her stuff away. The pair made small talk about their day of baking until Shelby shouted for Alyssa.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Emma,” Alyssa said as she pulled her into a warm hug. The way Alyssa held her tight was as though she couldn’t get close enough.

“Break it up ladies, chop-chop.” Emma turned to glare at her cousin for disrupting them as Alyssa pulled out of her embrace.

She waved at Emma as Shelby dragged her out. Emma just watched her leave with a dopey grin.

“What am I going to do with you?” Greg sighed as he stomped off towards the exit leaving his hopeless cousin behind.

Emma rushed after and somehow got to the truck before he did. Emma was about to start driving them back to Edgewater when her phone dinged with a text notification.

**[Alyssa, 6:57 pm]:** _ you did good today emma! _ i'm proud, can’t wait to see you tomorrow :)

**[Alyssa, 6:58 pm]:** _ also shelby wanted me to invite you to her and kevin’s game night on tuesday. i’ll be there too, it’d be nice if you could come. it’s completely cool if you don’t want to though! x _

Emma felt her heart swoon at the kiss at the end of Alyssa’s text. She knew it was only an innocent addition but she was through with denying how the brown-eyed girl made her heart flutter.

Maybe she’d ask her out after filming finishes tomorrow. Maybe.

***

Emma found showstopper day to be the most exciting day of the weekend, albeit the most challenging.

A calm overtook her as she tied her apron and checked over the ingredients left out for her, she felt somewhat confident about the final challenge of week two after her performance the previous day. 

Emma was greeted by a chorus of ‘hellos’ from Alyssa and Shelby as the pair walked in. Emma knew Alyssa arrived earlier than she did but Alyssa still insisted on waiting outside for Shelby to arrive before she came in which Emma never understood but thought was sweet. 

Emma had become fond of Shelby as of late but she couldn’t help feeling slightly envious of her friendship with Alyssa. They’d been friends since they were children and they stayed close even when Alyssa came out.

The closest thing Emma had to that was Kaylee but xe ruined any chances of being friends with her after prom night. Emma knew that she was going to have to get over her resentment towards Kaylee but it wasn’t that easy.

Emma shook her head as she tried to concentrate on preparing to start the final challenge of the week. 

Although neither Emma nor Greg were allowed to tell anyone about how the baking was going Emma spilled everything to Betsy about how well her day went yesterday and she was so happy for her. Emma wanted to make her proud again today. 

The star baker was allowed to phone a family member to tell them they won during their exit interviews so she just hoped she’d get the opportunity to call her gran.

“Good morning bakers. I hope you all had a good night’s sleep because today’s challenge is a doozy.” Angie greeted, Emma didn’t even notice the hosts and the judges enter the room.

“Today our lovely judges would like you to create a 3D structure out of biscuits. They can be any flavour your unruly hearts desire but the only rule is that they must stand up,” Trent said. “You have four hours from now. Good luck bakers.”

Emma started by looking at the recipe she’d made for herself. She’d managed to make her 3D biscuit scene twice in the past week and both within the time limit. There had been a couple of problems causing her to waste a lot of her time but that was why she’d made a handy cheatsheet for her to follow.

“What are you making for us today Emma?” Barry asked as he and Dee Dee approached her.

“I’m making a pirate ship with some miniature gingerbread pirates having a swordfight.”

“Oh? What inspired you to choose that?” Dee Dee queried.

“Growing up my cousin and I both loved the film Peter Pan so it’s sort of an ode to that.”

“Good luck Emma,” Barry said before he and Dee Dee departed to question Alyssa about the ski lift scene she was making.

Emma tried to ignore Alyssa telling the judges about a trip to Austria her parents took her on when she was young. 

She began mixing her dry ingredients before adding her wet ones and mixing them together to form a firm dough.

She and Greg had spent hours the previous week in their grandad’s old toolshed creating cookie cutters that could be put into the oven to shape the gingerbread. 

Emma carefully lined the base of each shape, leaving plenty of room for the biscuits to expand as they baked. She slid the tray into the oven and set her timer.

Alyssa had also just placed her shortbread into the oven so Emma asked her to hear about the Austria trip whilst they waited for their cookies to finish baking.

Emma could see the flashes of pain flicker in Alyssa’s eyes as she spoke about her father but Emma knew this wasn’t the place to talk about it and made a mental note to talk about their families at some point because Emma didn't know anything about her childhood other than her friendship with Shelby. 

Emma felt as though she could trust Alyssa with all of her secrets which scared her because she knew how easy it was for people to leave her. She didn’t think her heart could handle losing Alyssa. Even though they’d only known each other for just over a week Alyssa meant something to her and for some reason, Emma felt like she meant something to Alyssa too.

Emma’s timer rang ending Alyssa’s story abruptly. She just flashed Alyssa an apologetic smile and left to take her gingerbread out of the oven.

The worst part about these challenges in Emma’s opinion was all the waiting. She had just had to wait for them to bake and now after removing them from the metal shapes she had to wait for them to cool before she could begin to assemble them.

Eventually, sometime after the two-hour mark had passed, Emma’s cookies were cool enough to decorate so she quickly but carefully built her ship and slid her pirates on top. Whilst waiting for the cooling to finish Emma had prepared her icing so she began the final process of decorating.

Emma was placing the finishing touches on the outside of her ship with around fifteen minutes left when she heard a clattering sound behind her.

Alyssa’s ski lift had fallen to the floor and the brunette looked as though she was seconds away from tears. 

As Emma had almost finished she jumped to her rescue but picking the salvageable pieces from off the floor. She grabbed some of her icing that she had finished using and began to reassemble the centerpiece to Alyssa’s ski lodge.

Hayden had finished early so came over to help Alyssa make sure the rest of her structure was stable. 

Emma had managed to  _ mostly  _ fix the ski lift and the three of them placed it back where it was before adding extra icing to try and keep it steady.

Alyssa mumbled a thank you as both Emma and Hayden went back to their own showstoppers.

Emma had only just finished when Trent and Angie said time was up. 

A few of the bakers rushed to check on Alyssa but Emma could tell she was quite overwhelmed and just gave her some space.

As the judges came around to scrutinize everyone’s baking Emma kept her eyes on Alyssa afraid that the woman would fall apart, though she needn’t be worried because Alyssa kept a relatively calm composure. She was slightly betrayed by the slight tears forming in her eyes but she just blinked them away as she willed herself not to cry.

Finally, the judges got around to Alyssa and Emma found herself hoping that they’d done a good enough job of fixing the ski lift. Other than one comment about the fact that the collapse did make it look a little bit disorganised from Dee Dee, Alyssa’s judging went fine. Barry even commented that the flavours of her biscuits were perfect.

The judges moved onto Emma and they had nothing negative to say about her baking. Emma knew she should’ve felt relieved but she was just worried about her friend.

As the judges left to debate about who should get star baker and who should be eliminated the bakers all moved to take a seat at the stools at the front. Emma sat down in the seat she’d claimed as her own and felt a little bit hurt when Alyssa walked past her and sat on one of the stools at the opposite end. Carrie took Alyssa’s usual seat and she smiled brightly at Emma as they linked arms but it didn’t fill her with the same warmth as Alyssa’s smile did.

As the judges and hosts came in to reveal what they’d decided on Emma couldn’t stop her eyes from flickering to where Alyssa was sitting to check she was okay.

Trent kicked the results off this week by announcing Emma as the star baker. She was met with a bittersweet feeling because although she was happy, she felt awful for Alyssa.

Angie interrupted the congratulating of Emma by announcing that Carrie would be the second baker to leave the competition. 

Emma pulled her friend into a side-hug and said her commiserations before the rest of the bakers came to give both her and Emma hugs. Emma managed to catch Alyssa’s eye before she was showered by congratulations from the other bakers and Alyssa sent her a half forced smile with the relief of not being eliminated expressed on her face.

Once all of the bakers had finished singing Emma’s praises Emma looked around for Alyssa but she was nowhere to be seen. Emma was filled with a sudden sense of dread. She knew Alyssa would be okay but she wanted to help comfort her.

When Emma called Betsy during her interview to tell her the good news she couldn’t mirror her gran’s excitement because her happy thoughts were plagued by a certain pair of saddened brown eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it ended on a downer. I promise the next chapter will be happier! Let me know what you thought below!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it! If you liked it please consider leaving a kudo and comment because it always makes my day. Have a great day!


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